Nassim Alemany, president of the DR Association of Industries, has asked President Mejia not to sign the electricity bill. A spokesman for the National Palace said the bill would be signed this morning. Alemany warns that the law creates an oligopoly and would make the electricity sector inefficient. He said that if the bill is passed as it is, the companies would do what they wanted with the electricity system. “That is not healthy for a nation that needs a trustworthy energy park, trustworthy production, but at market competitive prices, taking into account that the country is opening up to global markets and its industries have increasing power needs,” he said. The chief economist of the World Bank for Latin America and the Caribbean, Guillermo Perry, in an interview with Hoy newspaper had warned earlier that the bill creates an electricity oligopoly. Senator Alburquerque, president of the Senate, said that he too had warned before the bill was passed that it would create an oligopoly. He said he had hoped the bill would help build a competitive market, but last minute changes made in the Chamber set this back. President of the Chamber of Deputies Rafaela Alburquerque justified the changes saying they complied with what had been requested by the Executive Branch. The changes particularly favor the Spanish company, Union Fenosa, which distributes power to two thirds of Dominican territory and is rapidly increasing its investments in generation capacity.
